VMart's still locked in at plate, all the more reason he may stick around with Tigers

Detroit Tigers’ Victor Martinez pleads with home plate umpire Ed Hickox after being called out on strikes during a baseball game in 2011. Martinez had a streak of not striking out looking, dating back to last May, that was snapped Monday.
CHRIS O’MEARA — The Associated Press

For the first time in just less than one calendar year — to be exact, 154 games, including the postseason — Victor Martinez struck out looking in Monday night’s game.

Houston starter Jarred Cosart got Martinez on a 94-mph four-seam fastball for a called third strike in the first inning of Monday’s game.

“I wish I knew,” Martinez said of the snapped streak. “I would’ve swung.”

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It was the first time VMart had been called out on strikes in 579 at-bats, dating back to his final at-bat on May 21, 2013. Cleveland’s Matt Albers was the last to get Martinez looking. He struck out swinging 45 times in the stretch since then.

It’s just a mark of how locked in Martinez has been.

From July 1 — when he was still in his first-half struggles, hitting just .232 — through the end of last regular season, Martinez hit .367 with eight home runs and 23 doubles, driving in 43 runs. His OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) is a whopping .938.

That late-season burst lifted him to .301 for the season — his fourth straight season of hitting over .300, and the eighth in his 12-year career.

“Vic’s a professional hitter. Very few people I’ve come across never give up on any particular pitch in any particular count. This guy is 100 percent concentrated on every single pitch he sees,” said manager Brad Ausmus, who played for 18 seasons, alongside a handful of eventual Hall of Famers.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever come across that. It’s hard to do for every single pitch for 600 plate appearance. It’s really remarkable the concentration he has every single time the pitcher throws the ball. It’s remarkable, really. He never lets up.”

Through Monday’s game, Martinez hitting .323 with five home runs and 16 RBI, and a .916 OPS.

It has certainly put to rest the “Victor’s washed up” argument that was circulating when Martinez was struggling to start last season, coming back from 2012’s catastrophic knee injury.

It also makes you wonder if the Tigers might not decide to extend the contract of the 35-year-old designated hitter before it expires at the end of the season.

For his part, Martinez would love to stay in Detroit, but knows there are plenty of decisions looming for a club that has only seven players under contract past the end of this season.

“I want to stay here, yes. But on the other hand, they have a lot of stuff going on. They have (Max) Scherzer,” Martinez said this offseason, noting that he’d made the right choice to come to Detroit in the first place.

“We’ll see what happens. This is a great organization, and they do things to win. As a player, this is what you work for. This is what you work for in the offseason, work your butt off, because you know you have a great chance to win.”

SHORT HOPS

Luke Putkonen, on the disabled list with elbow inflammation, will throw an inning at the Tigers’ Class-A West Michigan affiliate on Wednesday, then might get another rehabilitation outing elsewhere (likely Triple-A Toledo) before the Tigers will decide on activating him from the DL. ... Anibal Sanchez, on the DL with a finger laceration, on Tuesday threw his first bullpen session since his injury.